Orlando, Fla. -- AAA (American Automobile Association), North America's largest motoring and leisure travel organization, has awarded AT&T a $21 million networking contract to keep its roadside assistance and travel services easily accessible to more than 47 million members. The three-year contract extends an existing agreement.

"Travelers count on our organization for quality, reliability and fast, helpful service," says Satish Mahajan, AAA Chief Information Officer and Vice President of Information Services. "Our members need to reach us at all times of the day or night -- particularly for roadside assistance -- and we can't afford to be unavailable for even a moment.. AT&T has the reach, service, reliability and stability that we need to support our business operations."

The AT&T networking solution encompasses an array of local and long- distance voice, data, hosting and remote-access Internet services.

AAA's 24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week emergency roadside service is supported by AT&T Toll-Free Service, with advanced features that enable the association to route calls to an appropriate call center based on the time of day, day of the week and location of the member's club. AAA typically handles more than 2 million toll-free emergency roadside service calls a month.